Ashes to Ashes
by Fire Red Fox Queen
Summary: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Can the Ladybug and the Fox stop the mad Cat of calamity before everything crumbles away? 'Cheshire' edited for T audiences. 100% OC story, maybe even alternate universe?
1. Ashes

**This is my heavily edited, T-audience friendly version of my story 'Cheshire.' I love the gore fest that is the first couple chapters of 'Cheshire', but the M side of the fandom is a lonely place. (Though of course I appreciate _everyone_ that _does_ read the original.) Well, there are other factors other than a simple lack of readers, of course... Anyway. Since I wanted a title to differentiate it from 'Cheshire' without doing something corny like 'Cheshire V.2' or whatever, I decided its current title would be fitting, even if it is cliched and overused. Since they were short originally (and even shorter after editing), I just combined the first two chapters. I'll be keeping up with both versions of this story in case anyone's wondering. But now that I've done this, this story might really branch into it's own thing. 'Ashes to Ashes' is more fitting to develop into a more metaphorical story than 'Cheshire's madness-oriented gory glory. I guess we'll just have to see. Sorry for rambling!**

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Erica gripped her phone tightly in her hand as she desperately choked down the urge to puke. Mere inches from her face, Erica's would-be mugger gurgled and twitched as he quickly disintegrated at the throat. She could only watch in horror as his skin cracked and peeled, a sickening dead gray color quickly spreading under his collar and onto his face.

But the most painful thing were his eyes. Those bloodshot brown eyes were staring at Erica, begging her to save him. They had locked onto her, suffocating her for what had to be the longest instant she had ever experienced. After what seemed like an eternity, those pitiful eyes glazed over and his body collapsed in a heap of unrecognizable ash.

Bile rose in the back of Erica's throat, but she forced it down when she saw the cause of her attacker's demise. Toxic green eyes glowed in the lowlight of the alley, the little light available revealing a display of alarmingly numerous sharp teeth.

A strange high-pitched chuckle broke the silence. Erica flinched, her stomach rolling unpleasantly at the sound. "It's so pitiful, isn't it? They all turn crumble into ash and scatter to the wind, just like she did." Another high chuckle led to a full-on laughing fit, impossibly exposing even more teeth than before. It was somehow more terrifying than watching a man literally fall apart in front of her. Erica didn't even register her phone slipping free of her numb fingers and cracking sharply against the dusty ground. Leaning heavily against the wall behind her was all she could to keep from collapsing straight to the ground.

Eventually the laughing faded back into disturbed giggles as those sickeningly toxic colored eyes turned back on her. "Good night~!"

That was the last thing she heard before her head collided with the rough brick wall and everything snapped to black.

Something sharp was poking Erica in the cheek, irritating her into wakefulness. A throbbing pain bloomed in the back of her skull as she became conscious. There was something clinging to her face and her pillow was way too hard for some reason. She pushed herself upwards onto her elbows, groaning as light touched her eyelids. Despite her reluctance to face the light, she opened her eyes.

All of a sudden, the events of last night came rushing back to her as she took in the lingering ash pile in front of her. Erica heaved herself violently to the side of the body, eyes stinging with anxious tears. A trembling hand subconsciously rose to her cheek, feeling the ash that was stuck there. Her shivering intensified. It began to sink in. She had been laying on someone's dead body. The thought of it just made her choke as she twisted to the side and finally emptied her stomach onto the ground.

After a few shuddering breaths, she shakily tried to climb to her feet. She had to get away from this place, from what happened. Her weak knees couldn't support her weight and she dropped right back to the ground. She whimpered through thick tears, black hazing in at the rim of her vision, threatening to knock her unconscious at this unholy place again.

Erica forced herself to slow down her breathing and attempted to calm down. It wasn't working quite as well as Erica would have normally liked, but it kept the black haze at bay. Gulping air down through her mouth, she tried to grasp the next step. What should she do? Police, right, she should call the police.

Her quaking hands took a couple of attempts to search her coat pockets. Empty. Pants pockets, then. Nope, not there either. Erica whimpered again, casting a desperate glance around her in hopes that her phone had fallen out of her pocket when she backed away from the remains. No such luck.

She glanced back toward the ashes, dreading the answer she already knew. If it was possible, Erica never wanted to get within 100 miles of that ever again. But it wasn't possible, so she unsteadily stood again, using the nearby building as a crutch. Step by trembling step, she edged closer.

And there it was, laying right next to the remains. She sharply sucked in a deep breath before slowly bend down to pick it up. Her hand missed on the first try and she struggled to get a grip on it. But she eventually got her fingers fitted around it. Without even taking a second to even breathe, she spun and limped several feet away.

Only when she was a good distance away did Erica gasp for air. She hastily swiped away the dust on her phone the best she could onto her jeans and inspected it for damage. Her stomach sank when she saw that the screen was spiderwebbed with cracks. Hoping against hope that it was still functioning, she pressed down the power button.

When the screen came to life, Erica was so relieved that she almost dropped it again. She attempted to quickly type in those three little numbers that everyone knew. Frustrated after a few failed tries, she finally got the combination right and put the phone on speaker.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"H-hi, yes, this is Erica Marienkafer, and I was attacked last night. I-I'm still here at the scene."

"Okay, just keep calm. What's your position?"

Erica screwed her eyes shut as she tried to recall the path that she took home last night. "I'm in an alleyway off of Wilson Ave. It was near the intersection with Georgia St, I think," she replied uncertainly.

"I'm sending someone your way now. Just stay where you are and don't move, okay? It's really important that you don't remove yourself from the scene."

"Okay," she whispered before hanging up. She slowly dragged her body back to the ground to wait for the police to arrive.

That pounding headache that Erica somehow managed to forget about returned twice as urgently now that she was calming down. Groaning, Erica lowered her head onto her knees and closed her eyes.


	2. Strange

**Bad plot excuses are bad, and this is badly written because I don't know how this would play out in reality. Also, I don't know police hierarchy. Total shot in the dark. Still my one of my favorite chapters so far.**

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"Vos! We have another Cheshire case over in an alleyway off Wilson and Georgia. How fast can you get there?"

"Fifteen minutes. Has a squad already been sent to secure the area?" Inspector August Vos asked, pinning his phone to his shoulder as he pulled on his jacket.

"Yeah, they're beginning preliminary questioning on the witness now."

August paused. "There's a survivor?"

"Yes, apparently."

Unsure of how to take the piece of information, he filed it away and simply replied, "I'm on my way."

When he arrived on scene, he was met with a rather young, unfamiliar face. "Give me a rundown of the situation," he said, casually flashing his badge while focusing on the dark alley beyond the yellow tape.

"It's a typical Cheshire attack," the young officer replied promptly, holding the tape up and away for August to duck under. "Nothing but ash. An autopsy can't be done, but I think it's pretty obvious what the cause of death was. Usually, it'd be impossible to determine the time of death in this situation as well, but the witness was able to supply that to us this time."

August had forgotten all about the survivor. Jerking his attention away from the scattered remains in front of him, he fixed his attention on the young officer. Seriously, this kid had be fresh out of college, light freckles tracking their way across his pale face with almost equally pale ashy blonde hair.

Even though August (who had seen dozens of Cheshire's victims before) felt sick to his stomach, this kid...Officer Geoffrey, it seemed, looked perfectly fine. Completely impassive.

"And when was the time of death?"

"Around 11:30pm last night, sir."

"And where is this witness?"

"She's being attended to by the EMTs right now as we speak. You actually passed her on the way in here."

"Thanks," August replied, quickly escaping the darkness of the alley and the subtle but unsettling smell of dust. He spotted the ambulance just outside the mouth of the alleyway, a policeman interrogating a girl as she was inspected for injuries.

"I'll take over from here," August said firmly to the interrogating officer. "If I gain anything new, I'll fill in those details later." The officer looked like he was going to protest, but instead chose to step away, irritated. "Thanks."

He bent down cautiously, inspecting the girl in front of him carefully. She was shuddering hard like a leaf caught up in a storm. Her eyes avoided him, looking resolutely at the blacktopped road. She pulled her shock blanket closer to herself almost subconsciously.

August was never very good at dealing with traumatized witnesses. Unsure of how to proceed, he cleared his throat awkwardly, hoping to get the girl's attention. The girl flinched at the sound, which August interpreted as acknowledgement of his presence.

"My name is August Vos. I know that it might be hard for you, but I'm going to need you to answer some questions for me, okay?"

The girl's steel grey eyes sharpened as her head snapped up to glare at him. Gone was the shaking, scared girl that had greeted him. The change was so sudden and unexpected that August shifted backwards a bit in surprise. "Haven't I given you enough information already?!" she screeched, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Just ask that other officer! He's been asking me for twenty minutes now! What else do you want from me?! I just want to go home…" she cried, voice trailing off softly as her gaze dropped once again, tears falling freely down her cheeks.

"I know," August assured her softly. "Just five more minutes, okay? Then I'll have someone take you home. Think you can handle talking to me for five minutes?"

The girl nodded slowly.

"Good. Now, first off, what's your name?"

"Erica Marienkafer."

"Okay, Erica, what were you doing before you were attacked?"

"I was walking home from the library. I worked a closing shift last night."

"Now, what exactly happened?"

"I was cutting through that alley because I thought it would be a quicker way to get back to my apartment. T-this guy approached me, I think he was homeless? Anyway, he was trying to steal my phone, which was in my hand. We struggled, and he managed to pin me against a building. But the next thing I know, he disintegrated right in front of me."

"So that's the victim this time?" A silent nod.

"What time was this?"

"I think it was approximately 11:30pm." Right. So her story was consistent at this point, at least.

"Do you remember anything about Cheshire?"

The girl thought quietly for a moment. "Any details are fine, even small ones."

She shook her head. "All I remember is that his eyes are an acid green and his teeth were sharp. It was too dark to see anything else."

"No visible scars or injuries or other defining features? No birthmarks?"

"Not that I could see."

"What about height?" A moment passed.

"Around my height?"

"Male or female?"

"I think male, but it was hard to see and his voice was pretty high when he was talking."

Nothing new, huh? This much could be seen from Cheshire's Black Cat days. In fact, even hair color was known from images and video clips. August had hoped that this girl might've noticed something distinctive, but it was a bust after all. "Thank you for being patient, Erica. I'm sorry you had to deal with all this."

She shook her head. "Can I go home now?" she asked quietly. "I'd really like to take a shower."

August climbed to his feet with a sigh. "Yeah, you can go home now. If you remember anything else, please contact us immediately. Officer Geoffrey can give you a ride back."

The girl didn't reply. She merely climbed shakily to her feet and followed as August walked back towards the crime scene, stopping a few feet away from the tape.

"Hey, Geoffrey!" August called to the kid, who happened to be standing over the remains again. Weird kid. What was there to look at? How old was this kid, anyway? "Think you can take the witness home?"

The kid fixed his dull hazel-eyed stare on the older detective for a second, an unreadable look on his face. Then a wan smile worked its way onto his features, obscuring those strange eyes. "Sure."

As Geoffrey passed by, August couldn't help a strange chill that passed over him. _Weird kid._


End file.
